Tabaran legends reunite at Archies Creek
Eight-piece outfit fronted by David Bridie performs two full sets featuring tracks from 1990's Tabaran and new album Malira on Friday May 8.
Avant-garde Australian pop-rock pioneers Not Drowning, Waving are bringing their celebrated Pacific sound to Archies Creek Hall on Friday May 8 with PNG music great Sir George Telek alongside them.
The eight-piece outfit fronted by David Bridie has reformed for its first national tour in decades and the Bass Coast show is one of only a handful of dates outside the major capitals.
After sold out shows in Melbourne and Sydney earlier in the run the band will perform two full sets drawing from their landmark 1990 album Tabaran and its long-awaited follow-up Malira.
Tabaran was recorded in Rabaul with Telek and other PNG musicians and was lauded by music writer Mark Mordue as an early masterpiece of world music and a true work of artistic collaboration.
Malira arrived 35 years later in September 2025 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Papua New Guinea independence.
The new album sold out its initial pressings on release and made an unexpected appearance on the charts.
Telek hails from the village of Raluana near Rabaul in East New Britain and is widely regarded as PNG's most significant musical export.
He has previously recorded at Peter Gabriel's Real World studios in the UK and has collaborated with Archie Roach, Kev Carmody and Bridie across a career spanning four decades.
Joining Bridie and Telek on stage are fellow PNG musicians Ben Hakalitz on drums and Pius Wasi on bamboo flute alongside long-time Not Drowning, Waving members John Phillips on guitar, Rowan McKinnon on bass, Russel Bradley on drums and Helen Mountfort on cello.
The show makes extensive use of video projections and runs over two sets.
Audiences accustomed to seeing acts of this calibre at venues like the Melbourne Recital Centre, where Bridie and Telek performed together last September, will be in for a far more intimate experience at the Archies Creek Hall.
The hall has built a national reputation for hosting top-tier touring artists since the Caravan Music Club set up the venue's sound system in 2020.
Doors open at 8pm with the show starting at 8.30pm.
Reserved seating is $63 plus booking fee and general admission is $58 plus booking fee.
Tickets are available at trybooking.com
